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He-Man.Org's 2012 End-of-year Fan Poll Results!

At the end of 2012, we asked fans to give their opinion on a number of polls about current topics of interest on the Org and other forums, Facebook, chat and so forth. 1414 fans voted in these polls. Thank you for your participation!

First up, here is information about the application of these poll results. This info isn't a spoiler or a secret. I merely put it into spoiler tags so it's not taking up too much space, giving you the option to read that info if you choose.

Online polls are not scientific polls in that they do not take random samples from the entire populous. But proponents of online polls point out how voluntary polling is just like voting where there are people who take the time to vote and others who let the voters speak on their behalf. So to those proponents, the standards applied to determining confidence in voluntary polling is just as valid.

He-Man.org's poll are similar. The polls are open to everyone. Plus, all of the registered members of the Org forums were notified of the poll. The polls were also advertised on the main page of He-Man.org were it receives over 100,000 unique visits a month. Notices were posted on our Facebook and Twitter accounts as well. We feel confident that a majority of MOTUC consumers visit He-Man.org and that our online fan polls are representative of that market.

Via random info collected over the years and through fan speculations, we have estimated MOTUC sells around 15,000 units per figure. If each figure went into the hand of one collector, as opposed to some fans buying multiple copies which we know happens, that means MOTUC may have approximately 15,000 customers. But for the purpose of discussing the application of these poll results and placing further burden on our numbers, we'll be generous and increase those estimates to 20,000 customers.

Based on 20,000 potential customers, in order to reach a 95% confidence level with a 3% confidence interval, we need to poll 1000 fans. These polls exceed this requirement. What those percentages mean is that statistically speaking, if you polled 1000 random MOTUC customers, you would have at least a 92% chance of replicating similar results.

Some may argue that we have to consider people voting multiple times and/or that they may not be actual MOTUC customers. But considering these were anonymous polls where the results were hidden to prevent any competition, that we take measures on our own to eliminate repeat votes when possible, and that the opinions currently have no official bearing on the line, we feel these factors would have insignificant influence on the results and that the votes cast reflect honest opinions of the MOTUC customer base.

So let's get to the poll results!

First up is,What Toyguru catchphrase stands out the most?

43% Keep reading the bios
21% We can't comment past...
11% Logistics
10% A great idea, but...
9% Maybe in a movie year
6% That style is retired

Love them or hate them, those are the Toyguru phrases fans see frequently used. Scott was a good sport and let us poll fans about that one.

Next up is a poll about the Granamyr QC problems. With this poll, we can't apply the confidence rating as this is not an opinion poll. It's about actual in-hand product and the condition it's in. Also, for this particular poll, only 583 people voted. This could be for any number of reasons, from not having Granamyr yet, to be satisfied with the product and not voting, to having it in package and not knowing condition, etc.Is your Granamyr in good condition?

77% He is in good condition
20% The connecting socket for or the connecting plug in his tail was broken
2.5% Something else was broken or defective (no reason provided)
0.1% He has not arrived yet
0.1% The right shoulder's socket
0.1% Right Arm
0.1% Not arrived yet
0.1% There's something wrong with his top torso connection

We did a poll before about Cringer/Battle Cat speaking in a new film. But fans brought up how telepathy might be another possibility for his communication with Adam/He-Man, so we ran it again.Should Cringer/Battle Cat talk in a new He-Man movie?

37% neither should speak out loud
36% both should speak out loud using the same language as He-Man
13% they should speak to He-Man using telepathy
8% Battle Cat should speak out loud using the same language as He-Man, Cringer should not speak at all
6% Cringer should speak out loud using the same language as He-Man, Battle Cat should not speak at all

Another interesting topic was about the term "Masters." The 2002 cartoon saw "Masters" being used to refer to just the heroes and this was carried on to the MOTUC toy line. Many fans had taken "Masters" to be a term that applied to all characters, both hero and villain, in the MOTU world. So we put it to a vote.Do you like the term "Masters" from Masters of the Universe only referring to the heroes?

51% no, Masters should refer to both heroes and villains
29% yes, the heroes are the Masers
20% indifferent

MOTUC has seen the release of a number of licensed products. We were curious what licensed product released by the time of the poll you liked the most. Keep in mind, somehow the iOS video game slipped the poll. If the game was in the poll, we imagine it would have ranked very high as it has been a hit with many fans. Sorry about not including it!What is your favorite licensed Masters of the Universe Classics product released to-date?

Speaking of the new DC MOTUC comic, fans have contemplated the release of variant covers for this series and past comics from MVCreations. We were curious where you stand on the issue.Do you like variant covers for a printed comic?

40% no
26% indifferent
15% yes, but only one
11% yes, all variants are welcome
8% yes, but only a few

DC has released both printed comics and online comics for MOTUC. But Mattel also released several MOTUC mini-comics with the toys. We wanted to find out which you liked the most.Which version of Masters of the Universe Classes comics is the best to-date?

Mini-comics are definitely loved by fans. But we wanted to know how much your love would translate into extra expense for the line.Do you want Mattel to continue making Masters of the Universe Classics mini-comics?

42% yes, but for no extra cost
38% yes, I would pay more for them
15% indifferent
5% no

Speaking of cost, we were curious where you drew the line on expense for MOTUC. The first poll is about how much you'd pay to get both a 2nd head sculpt and a mini-comic included with the figure. 35.00 was the price chosen as we're already close to 30.00 and it's doubtful we could get all those items for 30.00.Would you pay upwards of 35.00 for a figure if it came with a 2nd head sculpt and a mini-comic?

56% no
33% yes
11% indifferent

After that, we thought about the current price for the figures as well as past prices and future prices. Where did you draw the line on cost?How much is too much to pay per figure in a Masters of the Universe Classics subscription?

39% the current price of 25.00 per figure is my limit
25% upwards of 30.00 per figure would be my limit
10% upwards of 35.00 per figure would be my limit
10% 22.00 per figure was my limit and they are now too expensive
7% 20.00 per figure was my limit and they are now too expensive
5% upwards of 40.00 per figure would be my limit
4% I would pay more than 40.00 per figure

Expense has been a concern of fans, but so have a number of other issues associated with the MOTUC line.What do you feel needs the most improvement for Masters of the Universe Classics?

42% Quality control at the factory (paint application, figure assembly, etc)
19% Digital River shipping (options for shipping, cost of shipping, returns, etc)
19% Digital River customer service (communication, response to customer inquiries, ability to contact DR, etc)
7% Mattel fan interaction (communication with fans, information relayed, addressing fan concerns, etc)
4% Fan feedback (forum and Facebook comments and posts from your fellow fans and collectors)
4% Bios (the stories printed on the back of the MOTUC toy packaging)
3% Four Horsemen sculpts (the design and sculpting of the toys)
1.5% Packaging (the packaging used on the MOTUC toy line)
0.1% Mattel development
0.1% Lack of POP
0.1% Inventory
0.1% customer service AND quality control both need major reworks
0.1% Availability for non-subscription buyers

Digital River has been the subject of many threads and posts over the years where fans expressed concerns and frustrations.Should Mattel replace Digital River?

43% yes
30% no, but they should fix current customer service/shipping problems
21% indifferent
6% no, they are fine as-is

While there is discussion about things fans don't want, there are plenty of topics about things fans do want to see. Filmation has always been a popular topic as is the interest in more Filmation characters in the line. But those who disagree don't want to see Filmation characters taking up slots for other character incarnations, such as vintage toy characters. So we polled about a possible solution.Would you like a Filmation Masters of the Universe Classics toy sub-line?

64% yes
18% indifferent
18% no

A subline would put additional strain on fan finances. But subscriptions seem to be vital to the success of the line. So for the main subscription we were curious how fans felt about the significance of the sub exclusive figure.Should the 2014 Club Eternia sub exclusive figure be a fan demanded character (i.e. Shadow Weaver) or a more obscure, less demanded character (i.e. Wun-Dar)?

In terms of importance to the line, different incarnations of MOTU and POP characters mean different things to fans everywhere. So we were curious how you felt about the importance of some of the major MOTU and POP incarnations. The poll options were essentially a 1 thru 5 ranking:
1 - Not important
2 - Somewhat important
3 - Important
4 - Very important
5 - Absolutely required

How important is She-Ra: Princess of Power in the Masters of the Universe Classics line?
48% Absolutely required
16% Very important
13% Important
13% Somewhat important
10% Not important

How important is New Adventures of He-Man in the Masters of the Universe Classics line?
28% Not important
21% Somewhat important
20% Absolutely required
17% Important
14% Very important

How important is 200x (2002 toy relaunch / Mike Young Productions cartoon) in the Masters of the Universe Classics line?
30% Absolutely required
22% Very important
21% Important
15% Somewhat important
12% Not important

How important is Filmation in the Masters of the Universe Classics line?
54% Absolutely required
20% Very important
14% Important
9% Somewhat important
3% Not important

Finally, this brings us to the Most Favorite and Least Favorite choices of 2012. For this part of the poll, we did not include the December 2012 releases as many fans did not receive the figure by the end of the year which would reflect their opinion in the poll. For that same reason, we included the December 2011 release since many fans got those figures in January of 2012. So here are your top five choices in each poll, as presented by Pixel-Dan!

Wow, it's been so long that I don't even remember some of my answers
Glad people think Battle Cat shouldn't speak. I chose no speaking, but would be okay with the telepathy idea.
I'm surprised people think the digital comics are the worst?! Bizarre. They are far superior to both the minis and the monthly series.
NA gets the total shaft by the fans here...wow! Personally I don't see how it's any more or less important than PoP in the grand scheme of things.
The 'best of/worst of' results are completely unsurprising, and anyone here could have predicted that. A poll wasn't even needed for this one I voted for the Wind Raider as the best, not sure who I voted for on the worst. Might have been DB Skeletor or Randor.

Thanks for posting these in text so I didn't have to go back and listen to that Gooble episode for a third time. It would be worth it though as it is a hell of an episode. Very entertaining when discussing polls and such. I agree with almost all of the results completely!

Finally, this brings us to the Most Favorite and Least Favorite choices of 2012. For this part of the poll, we did not include the December 2012 releases as many fans did not receive the figure by the end of the year which would reflect their opinion in the poll. For that same reason, we included the December 2011 release since many fans got those figures in January of 2012. So here are your top five choices in each poll, as presented by Pixel-Dan!

And the Wind Raider on 5th of favorites... I wonder how many are left @ DR warehouse then...

If we switched the way the Star Sisters and Wind Raider were sold, we'd probably have more vehicles (aka that Battle Ram) by now.

Imagine if the Wind Raider was a $45-$50 sub item in the first month of 2012 rather than a $60 Star Sisters 3 pack? Don't get me wrong, I quite like the Star Sisters and would have bought them had they been in the sub or not. But they wouldve been a flop had they been treated like the Wind Raider was. It really baffles me how Toyguru goes around saying the Wind Raider failed and needs to sell out before we can get more vehicles, yet he says the Star Sisters sold very well. It's all because of the way they did the sub.

If we switched the way the Star Sisters and Wind Raider were sold, we'd probably have more vehicles (aka that Battle Ram) by now.

Imagine if the Wind Raider was a $45-$50 sub item in the first month of 2012 rather than a $60 Star Sisters 3 pack? Don't get me wrong, I quite like the Star Sisters and would have bought them had they been in the sub or not. But they wouldve been a flop had they been treated like the Wind Raider was. It really baffles me how Toyguru goes around saying the Wind Raider failed and needs to sell out before we can get more vehicles, yet he says the Star Sisters sold very well. It's all because of the way they did the sub.

If we switched the way the Star Sisters and Wind Raider were sold, we'd probably have more vehicles (aka that Battle Ram) by now.

Imagine if the Wind Raider was a $45-$50 sub item in the first month of 2012 rather than a $60 Star Sisters 3 pack? Don't get me wrong, I quite like the Star Sisters and would have bought them had they been in the sub or not. But they wouldve been a flop had they been treated like the Wind Raider was. It really baffles me how Toyguru goes around saying the Wind Raider failed and needs to sell out before we can get more vehicles, yet he says the Star Sisters sold very well. It's all because of the way they did the sub.

There are many baffling things about the "logic" of what is or isn't included in the subs and/or considering popular based on sub sales compared to non-sub item sales.

On this specific example, I do kind of agree with what you are saying. Now, granted, it is possible that the people who voted in favor of the Wind Raider are mainly die hard fans who did buy it, but still weren't collectively enough to make it a success, and there might still be a lot of people who didn't want to start investing money into vehicles and instead focus on figures. It also stands out being the only vehicle in the line thus far, so the people who did vote for it might have done so on that basis, while those who didn't vote for it at all might have had their votes spread across many of the various figure options, spreading things to thin to get any of those figures into the top 5.

But having said that, I do wonder if amongst fans.... even those who didn't go out of their way to buy the Wind Raider manually.... how many of them, given the choice, would have gladly swapped out the Star Sisters for the Wind Raider. I'm sure the lower cost would help, but even if both items were priced the same, I think most would still rather have the Wind Raider than the Star Sisters. Heck, the fact that the Wind Raider came out during Christmas time AND for any subscribers knowing that a month later they'd have no choice but to pay for this expensive 3-pack, combined probably explain at least in part under performing sales. I probably still would have bought them (the Star Sisters) for completest sake, but I'll be honest and say that had they been a non-sub item, I at least would have contemplated making an exception to being completest with this line.

But my further point is that there has been a lot of questionable "logic" going into this line and what is included in the sub and not. The first vehicle release was not included as a sub item (despite being roughly in the price range of the oversized items) because they felt the need to "test the waters" with it to make sure people want it. Okay, I can kind of get that.... and that's what they've done with some other items like the oversized figures, beasts, mulitpacks, etc. But the logic is flawed. They based the popularity of those overall item categories in general mostly upon the successful non-sub sale of popular characters that happen to fall into those categories. Battle Cat, Tytus, the Palace Guards all did somewhere in the neighborhood of relatively well to very well on their original releases (I guess the Tytus reissue was a mistake, though). The big exception was Gygor (which from what I understand they were left with A LOT of back stock on). But none the less, they went ahead and deemed them worthy of including in the sub. But the fallacy here is that they consider the item category successful, rather than the item itself, and use that to sell us rather obscure things like the Star Sisters (a multi-pack), the Griffin, and Procrustus. Now, don't get me wrong, I do actually think the Griffin and Proctrustus turned out nice and are pretty cool overall. But none the less, they are obscure. Had they been sold outside of the sub, while they may have fared better than Gygor (which still isn't certain), they likely would have not done all that well overall.

We are also often told that Mattel doesn't want to base what figures are made around a small but loud "vocal minority", but frankly that's EXACTLY what they did by making the Star Sisters at all (regardless of the deco chosen for them).

Heck, even if these aren't "scientific" polls, these do give us a good snap shot of what the fan community is thinking. And the results line up with things that I've believed for a while, have stated in threads, only to have people say that it's just my assumption but there's no data to back it up. Well, now there is. One of these things being my theory behind why there was such a huge drop off in subs for 2013, based largely on the results of this poll question:

While don't have exact numbers or percentages, what we do know, from what we've been told, is this... the main club Eternia sub for 2012 had a slight drop off from 2011. And the 30th anniversary add-on sub, while doing 'well' overall, had less people sign up for it than the main 2012 sub. And the 2013 sub, which barely got enough sign ups to go through actually had less people sign up for it than the 30th anniversary sub. I think the reason why is in this list of figures (as well as possily things like the Griffin and Procrustus, though obviously to a lesser extent since they didn't make this list).

When people signed up for both the 2012 sub and the 30th sub, we really only had roughly the reveals for the first quarter of the year. Despite the Star Sisters being amongst them, we had the likes of Shadow Weaver and several major fan demanded characters like The Soceress and Fisto. With the 30th sub, we had Draego Man and Photog. Now despite Photog apparently being unpopular since he just barely missed being on this list, I think most people saw the logic behind his inclusion. But what Draego Man (who did rank on the most liked list) did was give people a lot of hope that the brand new, original characters being created for this 30th sub will be awesome and something special.

What I think followed was a lot of overpriced disappointment. For the most part, save for maybe a couple of 'duds', the standard, single carded figures in the main 2012 sub weren't a problem as there was a solid character solid. That's not the problem. The problem with the main sub was the overall obscurity of most of the oversized items. In past years, even if a lesser known character was thrown in here or there, we had at least a few heavy hitters in the mix.... in 2011 there was Swiftwind, Panthor, and Megator (and the Shadow Beast was pretty cool, too, having been in both the 80s and 200X cartoons). In 2012 we got the Star Sisters, the Griffin (a background beast from the 200X show), and Procrustus (an obscure charater that appeared in one mini comic). While the latter two are cool looking, NONE of these are anywhere near close to being A or B list characters. Even the Snakemen 2-pack, while cool, is kind of pushing it IMO since unlike the Palace Guards or the highly demanded Horde Troopers, the generic Snakemen are kind of new and original (while taking some queues from 200X) and not directly based on a well known, familiar design.

Then the 30th sub is where I think a lot of people really got burned. I forget if Spector was revealed by the time the 30th sub actually went up for sale (which was quite a while after the main sub went up), but the other half of the figures had yet to be revealed. What resulted was mostly disappointment. All 3 of the new, original characters that were not designed by the 4HM or part of either the original or recent create-a-character contests are on this dislike list. Let's face it, people got burned with that sub. And when you add up the money spent on the lesser figures from the 30th sub, the obscure oversized items from the main sub, and even the couple of less popular figures from the main sub, that all adds up to A LOT of money spent on items people didn't want. It's really no surprise that the 2013 sub sales dropped the way that they did since after SDCC people knew what everything for 2012 would be. People didn't want to risk potentially spending a couple/few hundred dollars again on items that they don't want.... especially considering that one of the items revealed at SDCC was another expensive 3 pack of very obscure characters.

And while not part of a sub and therefore no one was "forced" to buy him, Vykron didn't help anything. I know there's an argument to be made that it's almost nice having the exclusive be a character that many people can "live without", but after getting the Orko/Adam and Marlena/Cringer packs the couple of years prior, I think people were expecting and hoping for something more like that. Plus the items do go up for sale on Matty Collector. And in the case of both the Marlena/Cringer pack and Vykron (this being the one positive I can say about Vykron's pack) is that the only difference between the SDCC versions and Matty versions was how the items are packed. You still get the exact same figures and accessories otherwise. As long as they continue to do that, I don't think having a relatively popular character as the exclusive is a terrible thing. But Vykron just added another "meh" character to a pretty big pile of them in 2012, which was supposed to be a big, great year for the line being the 30th anniversary and all. In many respects, it was a miss.

I honestly think that if they correct this for 2014 and really put together a solid line up of figures like they are talking about, the sub sales could potentially go up again. I'm not holding my breath on it, but I think it is possible.

Originally Posted by Tallstar

*Dead* @ this being the second thread I've "walked into" today where The Star Sisters are at the center of intense discussion.

Well, it is what it is. There have been a couple of different polls now that have revealed the same thing.

But, look on the bright side.... look at how well POP ranked in how important in terms of "importance" in the line! I know that you want the toy designs and the Filmation designs will likely continue to dominate, but none the less, it's still good news for POP! There have been some comments by a couple of people in other threads recently (and its not the first time) stating how unimportant POP is and claiming that barely anybody wants it. This proves them wrong! The only thing that ranked higher than POP in these "importance" question was Filmation, and often times many of the demanded Filmation characters are from POP, so that works out!

What doesn't surprise me, and frankly validates what I've said and suspected all along are the results for NA. I don't mean to "bash" it, and the few NA figures that we have gotten in the line so far have turned out pretty cool, and I am actually kind of looking forward to NA He-Man. But the numbers here speak for themselves. For the most part, people don't care about NA. It does have it's fans, but they are a vocal minority. I think this shows that NA really shouldn't be focused on. In all honestly, given the line being in "crisis mode", there is a fair argument to make for dropping NA out of MOTUC almost entirely. No offense to NA fans, but the numbers speak for themselves.

Happy to see that 64% of voters would like to see a Filmation sub-line.

Sad to see that 28% thought New Adventures was "not important" to the MOTUC line.....

At any rate, I would love to get more Filmation accurate figures in this line. If a Filmation-only sub is the way to do it, then sign me up! And I hope that Karatti and NA He-Man help to change the minds of those who don't think that New Adventures is important. Love it or hate it, NA is an important piece of He-Man's documented history, and I would really like to see a lot more NA characters make the move into MOTUC's!

**Staunch FILMationlover!!! **** MUST have a New Adventures Subscription!!!**

I'm not surprised by the NA result, and hopefully it will mean Mattel releases as few NA figures as possible. I'm sure the reason is because, of all the incarnations, NA was the only one to take MOTU in a direction that was completely at odds with the rest of the story. By contrast, POP (which I don't have any interest in either) at least sits reasonably comfortably alongside the original line in terms of look and storytelling.

How important is New Adventures of He-Man in the Masters of the Universe Classics line?
28% Not important
21% Somewhat important
20% Absolutely required
17% Important
14% Very important

Is the New Adventures really that unwanted?
While it would seem the majority votes voted "Not important",
in reality it is different because the votes are divided!51% voted Important and above which is a little over half of all fans who find NA important in MOTUC.
21% voted Somewhat important.
That's still a combined 72% for positive vs only 28% negative.

Is the New Adventures really that unwanted?
While it would seem the majority votes voted "Not important",
in reality it is different because the votes are divided!51% voted Important and above which is a little over half of all fans who find NA important in MOTUC.
21% voted Somewhat important.
That's still a combined 72% for positive vs only 28% negative.

You make an excellent point synthalus. I was too focused on the 28%...

It is comforting to know that there is still a majority that wants to see New Adventures continue to make a presence in MOTUC. There is a severe lack of NA characters in the line right now, and if it were to happen, I would be more than happy to purchase a separate NA-only subscription, in addition to the regular monthly and/or Filmation subs.

We need these NA figures. We need their bios to continue the Classics 'all-inclusive' storyline. We need to see the characters who never made the leap to plastic the first time around. We need to see them all immortalized in the MOTUC by the 4H!

**Staunch FILMationlover!!! **** MUST have a New Adventures Subscription!!!**